New York SBDC Research Network

Looking for a contract packager? We’ve written about co-packing for food producers before (see Josee’s entries: Co-Packing and Northeast Center for Food Entrepreneurship ). I recently found that Packaging Digest ’s website offers an online directory of contract packagers in the U.S. You can search by keyword or browse categories like food, health & beauty aids, medical, dental, pharmaceutical, hardware, toys and soft goods. And you can further limit by state. If you’re specifically after co-packers for food products, Specialty Food’s website directory also offers co-packer company information (scroll down to nearly the bottom of the Search by Product Category field).

Back in August 2007, I suggested using TinyURL as a means of shorten a URL, particularly when e-mailing a long URL that might hit a line break. Unfortunately, some folks apparently enjoy hiding embarrassing and inappropriate web content, such as spam and porn, behind a TinyURL and similar services. Some users won't open them because of bad experiences. Here are two suggestions: 1) Avoid blind TinyURL clickthroughs by utilizing TinyURL's preview page and enable previews. 2) Use a service such as unshorten.com to get the original URL. This usually works not only with TinyURL.com, but also SnipURL.com , NotLong.com , Metamark.net , and zURL.ws .

While the research that we provide to our clients is invaluable, often times when the client starts the business, they have new questions. Sometimes, they will come back in to ask for more research, but when they do not come back in, where can they go to do their own research? The most obvious answer is the public library. All residents in New York can access information that is available for free through the New York State Library's online database, NOVELny . Users can access the databases using their driver's license, state issued id card, or public library card. Subject topics included in the database are Business & Finance, General Reference/School-Oriented, Health & Medicine, History, Literature/Culture/Social Science, Newspapers, and Science. While there are certain databases that will not pertain our clients, Business & Company Resource Center is available, which is a source I use very often for industry research. More information on the project is avail...

We've received the latest edition of the Restaurant Industry Operations Report 2007-2008 as well as the 2008 Restaurant Industry Forecast which includes sales projections for various restaurant formats, restaurateur outlook for 2008, spending priorities, online marketing, green trends, hot categories, and the demographic outlook for consumers. It also includes statistics on the frequency of purchases by age report, foodservice occupational outlook and projected sales and employment by state. These are on our shelves along with the new Federal Yellow Book, The Lifestyle Market Analyst and the 2007 HOST Study. The 2006 SRDS Lifestyle Market Analyst book and the RMA Annual Statement Studies for 2004-05 have been de-accesioned and are up for grabs if any of your centers are interested in them.

I'm sure that many of you are involved in some sort of LISTSERV email distribution list. Most of us at the RN are on BUSLIB , and I'm sure we've mentioned it as a frequent source of information and blog ideas related to business librarianship. But sometimes people forget the proper etiquette . Here's an easy page with tips and etiquette from the North Carolina Bar Association. They even suggest emoticons!

Once upon a time, when I started working for the SBDC a decade and a half ago, getting an SBA-backed loan for a franchise was, I was told, a torturous event. Even SBA acknowledged that "inconsistent decisions", "excessively long processing time" and "failure to understand industry differences" plagued the process. Now, "in a major effort to help small business owners, the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) offers the Franchise Registry that will expedite the processing of loans to small business franchisees." Some franchises will be vetted so that the potential franchisee doesn't have to do so much work. Franchise Registry.com is in "a partnership with FRANdata , the only objective information company that researches and reports on franchising." It has some useful information, both free and for a fee; among the latter are UFOCs, Uniform Franchise Offering Circulars, which sell for $220 (older versions of the documents for $2...

I could run numbers all day long. Lately, I have been running numbers all day long. But creating statistics without actually employing them is like taking empty breaths. At the beginning of each month, I calculate such things as the average turnaround time; the number of requests asked; the number that are answered, and by whom; and break down the requests by advisor & by center. It's a part of the management function of the library, and something that my inner accounting-major actually enjoys. But I've never shared this information with any of you in the field. This blog isn't the place (I'd rather not broadcast it openly for the world). If you're interested in knowing how often you're using us, or how often your center in comparison with others, or any other general program data, then drop me an email. I'll put together a package for you. (Keep in mind that my data is available only for the fiscal year starting October 1st.) *** Earlier in the w...